Sure. But “standard” didn’t mean ”mandatory.” Lots of prototype photos show that lots of railroads varied lettering as they wished. The fact that a particular lettering feature was “standard” just sho

Nice clear write-up, Lester, and a nice-looking box car when you were done! Tony Thompson tony@...

I believe that the lines were a recommended practice, not a requirement. Guy Wilbur probably knows for sure. I also believe that the recommendation was dropped around 1952, with more and more railroad

Eric Thur wrote: Looking at my April 1950 edition, Diamond Alkali’s listing shows no car numbers below 32. The Herald Mangels co. (MHTX) does show 9 cars in the 800 series. In this Register, SSIX is n

Full agreement with this summary. Well stated, Bruce. Tony Thompson tony@...

Always a source of superb advice and counsel. Tony Thompson

We all choose where that line is located. I’ve never forgotten, back when I occasionally built models for NMRA contests, to be in the contest room once talking to a couple of other contestants, and on

The whitewash used for underframes (or the builder gray used for some photos) was hosed off before delivery, so modeling it would seem a little odd, unless you’re modeling the builder’s yard. Tony Tho

Excellent job, Paul. Weathering is just right, to my eye. And the placard board is “populated.” Tony Thompson tony@...

Andy Carlson wrote: Richard always said they were two-part epoxy. I guess that is a polyester resin too? I'm not a chemist. I think this is right. I wasn’t sure it was Lloyd for the flat car, though I

Ben is entirely right, and I appreciate the enlargement of the topic. But it’s worth mentioning that the superb sides made for the War Emergency box car were from a master made by Lloyd Keyser. Richar

The company was WestRail and was indeed Richard Hendrickson’s business. There were four types of kits, based on the starting bodies, and roughly a dozen total ones were issued. Anyone interested, I ca

Pretty nice gondola, Rich! Excellent work on the scratchbuilding. Tony Thompson tony@...

There was an ARA committee working toward a “recommended standard” box car, from 1915 to 1917. The USRA Car Committee simply took over their work and made a few tweaks. Tony Thompson tony@signaturepre

Sure. Written when most railroad CMOs still believed in double sheathing, and at the dawn of the time when nearly everyone changed their mind. And NP, of course, was a late holdout on this topic, alon

Sure. But the railroads were returned from Federal to private ownership on March 1, 1920, ending the Federal stewardship and control. That was certainly the end of MEANINGFUL work by the USRA. Tony Th

Ken is right about this description of the USRA double-sheathed car; it most certainly did NOT have an insulating layer. I would also disagree with the statement that the double-sheathed car was “more

Thanks to Tony Wagner and Tim O’Connor for nice photos, even though most are of the express cars, which I am not going to do. But plenty of lettering info for these cars. I have some Richard Hendricks

Builder photos were taken when convenient. Sometimes it would be the first car built, often a car somewhere in the middle, and sometimes a car near the end of a number series. Also, you need to be awa

I was thinking of modeling one of the CMO cars in the 20000-22414 series and thought I had a photo for the lettering. But my photo is for one of the rebuilt cars. Does anyone have a photo to show lett